Frozen Voices: Women, Silence and Antarctica

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Frozen Voices: Women, Silence and Antarctica Frozen voices: Women, silence and Antarctica Jesse Blackadder1 This chapter explores a different kind of Antarctic silence: the silencing of certain stories and voices. It’s the silence of the earliest female travellers to Antarctica. The voices of the earliest female travellers are silent and their stories remain untold, partly because there’s no place for them in the dominant Antarctic narrative of exploration and conquest. Reimagining them through fiction is one way — though with potential pitfalls — to ‘unfreeze’ those stories. The history of Antarctic exploration is about the adventures of men, particularly those in the so-called ‘Heroic Age’ from approximately 1897 to 1922. The great names of polar exploration, like Scott, Shackleton, Amundsen and Mawson, are well known and the mythology of their exploration, successes and failures still fascinates people today. The themes of their exploration narratives concerned heroism, conquest, suffering and male bonding. Arguably the most powerful exploration story was the race between the British Scott and the Norwegian Amundsen to the South Pole. Polar scholar Elena Glasberg says ‘This celebrated competition was motivated by all the familiar elements that shaped exploration history: the cultures of nationalism, imperial science, and male adventure’.2 Those defining moments of Antarctic history were masculine, and issues of gender were stamped on the landscape from the start. Antarctic historian Tom Griffiths describes it thus: ‘There was something spiritual about male comradeship, something pure about distant yearning and asexual love, and something incontrovertibly masculine about frontiering. The ice was their own inviolable space. In Antarctica, the presence of women could diminish a man. In their absence, one might prove oneself worthy of them’.3 This has led to a primary narrative of Antarctica, a tale of suffering, competition, and achieving the all-important ‘first’. No one just ends up in Antarctica — there is always a journey of some sort to get there. These ‘terrible journeys’, such as 1 Dr Jesse Blackadder, Writing & Society Research Centre, University of Western Sydney, 3 Muli Court, Myocum, NSW 2481, [email protected]. 2 E Glasberg (2002) ‘Refusing history at the End of the Earth: Ursula Le Guin’s “Sur” and the 2000–01 Women’s Antarctica Crossing’. Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 21(1): 99–121, p. 101. 3 T Griffiths (2007)Slicing the silence. UNSW Press, Sydney, p. 214. 169 Antarctica: Music, sounds and cultural connections Cherry-Garrard’s ‘worst journey in the world’, Shackleton’s epic journey to save himself and his men, the competitive journey to the South Pole between Scott and Amundsen, and Mawson’s lone trek for survival, function as Antarctica’s formation myths. The linear journey of exploration, the classic ‘hero’s journey’, has become a blueprint for Antarctic stories. Where did women fit into this masculine space? According to polar scholar Elizabeth Leane, Antarctica itself was constructed as feminine in its literature.4 In some Antarctic narratives from the early 20th century ‘the continent resembles nothing so much as a monstrous feminine body that threatens to engulf the unwary male explorer’ (2009, p. 511).5 The heroic phase was characterised by expedition writing that characterised the continent as ‘an aloof virginal woman to be won through chivalrous deeds’.6 This is clearly expressed in the cartoon ‘Waiting to be Won’, from Punch in 1875, which depicts the ‘White Ladye of the Pole’. The verses printed with the cartoon said: But still the white Witch-Maiden that sits above the Pole In the snow-bound silver silence whose cold quells aught but soul Draws manly hearts with strange desire to lift her icy veil The bravest still have sought her, and will seek, whoever fail.7 Although this image relates to the North Pole, Leane points out that ‘both icescapes tend to be feminised when viewed as fields of endeavour’.8 Women’s entry into this space was obviously problematic. On a physical level women were actively — in fact, strenuously — excluded from Antarctica in the first century of its history. Access to Antarctica in that time was controlled by money, race and gender. None of the great heroic era explorers took women with them. Although opportunities for women were severely restricted, the desire for adventure wasn’t only a masculine one. Among Shackleton’s records is this letter from three young women who asked to join his expedition: We are three strong healthy girls, and also gay and bright, and willing to undergo any hardships, that you yourself undergo. If our feminine garb 4 E Leane (2009) ‘Placing women in the Antarctic literary landscape’. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 34(3): 509–14, p. 510. 5 Leane (2009) ‘Placing women in the Antarctic literary landscape’, p. 511. 6 Leane (2009) ‘Placing women in the Antarctic literary landscape’, p. 511. 7 Reproduced in F Spufford (1997) I may be some time: ice and the English imagination. Picador, New York, p. 178. 8 Leane (2009) ‘Placing women in the Antarctic literary landscape’, p. 510. 170 Frozen voices is inconvenient, we should just love to don masculine attire. We have been reading all books and articles that have been written on dangerous expeditions by brave men to the Polar regions, and we do not see why men should have the glory, and women none, especially when there are women just as brave and capable as there are men.9 Newspaper articles report that women applied to be included in Antarctic expeditions in 1919 at the tail end of the heroic era: THE ANTARCTIC. ANOTHER EXPEDITION. WOMEN WANT TO GO. LONDON October 18. Captain Cope is inviting applications from experts in the following sciences to accompany his expedition to the Antarctic regions:- Geology, meteorology, biology, photography, surgery, cartography, and hydrography. The party will number 51, of whom 17 will be engaged on shore work. A number of the members of the expeditions which accompanied Captain Sir R. F. Scott and Captain Sir Ernest Shackleton have joined the expedition. Several women were anxious to join, but their applications were refused.10 Antarctic exploration moved into the mechanical era in the 1920s, using planes and motorised ships to further exploration goals. But women were still actively excluded from participating. Twenty-five women applied to join Mawson’s British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) in 192911 and in 1937 the extraordinary number of 1,300 women applied to join the proposed British Antarctic Expedition.12 None were successful in being permitted to travel to Antarctica. Women were known to have sailed to the Far South as companions on whaling and sealing ships plying their trade around the wild subantarctic islands in the 19th century, though their names were often not recorded.13 In the mechanical era, it was possible for women to travel to Antarctica in greater safety and comfort as companions, providing support, care and domestic tasks. As in the history of American deep-sea whaling, generally the first women to go were the wives of the captains. 9 Reproduced in Spufford (1997) I may be some time, p. 144. 10 The Advertiser 10 October 1919, p. 7. ‘The Antarctic: another expedition: Women want to go’. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5633923. 11 The Argus (1929), p. 9. 12 The Argus 3 April 1937, p 17. ‘Women want to go to pole: 1,300 applications: “No,” says leader’. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11053800. 13 E Chipman (1986) Women on the ice: a history of women in the Far South. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, p. 11. 171 Antarctica: Music, sounds and cultural connections The first woman recorded to have set foot on Antarctica was Caroline (also spelt Karoline) Mikkelsen, who accompanied her husband south in 1935.14 He had been working as a captain in the Norwegian whaling fleet on ships owned by Lars Christensen, with instructions to look for Antarctic lands that could be annexed for Norway. During their voyage a group including Caroline went ashore for several hours, raised the Norwegian flag, built a cairn, had afternoon tea and then returned to the ship. Caroline neatly fitted in to the small role that could be allotted to women in the dominant Antarctic narrative: a domestic companion who was conveyed there by her husband and who set foot on the continent as an appendage to him. Although her landing wasn’t publicised at the time, her ‘first’ was later reclaimed and now appears in Antarctic lists and timelines everywhere, as well as in books and articles by feminist scholars. If you Google ‘first woman on Antarctica’, hers is the name that comes up. However, the reality’s not so simple. As Chipman says, ‘many of the “firsts” in the Far South are suspect and coloured by prevailing attitudes’ (1986 p. 6).15 Four women are known to have gone to Antarctica before Caroline, but they’ve been largely overlooked. I’d like to tell you something of their story. The Norwegian Ingrid Christensen first went to the Antarctic in 1931 (four years before Caroline) when she was 38 and had six children, whom she left at home. Her husband Lars was an entrepreneur who owned a large pelagic whaling fleet and personally funded much of Norway’s Antarctic exploration. Ingrid went as his companion on the refuelling vessel for his factory fleet, a relatively privileged position. Ingrid and her companion Mathilde Wegger were, in 1931, the first identifiable women known to have seen Antarctica.16 However, that year the expedition did not find a suitable landing site. Ingrid didn’t achieve that all-important ‘first footprint’. Mathilde faired even less well in recorded history.
Recommended publications
  • Antarctic Peninsula
    Hucke-Gaete, R, Torres, D. & Vallejos, V. 1997c. Entanglement of Antarctic fur seals, Arctocephalus gazella, by marine debris at Cape Shirreff and San Telmo Islets, Livingston Island, Antarctica: 1998-1997. Serie Científica Instituto Antártico Chileno 47: 123-135. Hucke-Gaete, R., Osman, L.P., Moreno, C.A. & Torres, D. 2004. Examining natural population growth from near extinction: the case of the Antarctic fur seal at the South Shetlands, Antarctica. Polar Biology 27 (5): 304–311 Huckstadt, L., Costa, D. P., McDonald, B. I., Tremblay, Y., Crocker, D. E., Goebel, M. E. & Fedak, M. E. 2006. Habitat Selection and Foraging Behavior of Southern Elephant Seals in the Western Antarctic Peninsula. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #OS33A-1684. INACH (Instituto Antártico Chileno) 2010. Chilean Antarctic Program of Scientific Research 2009-2010. Chilean Antarctic Institute Research Projects Department. Santiago, Chile. Kawaguchi, S., Nicol, S., Taki, K. & Naganobu, M. 2006. Fishing ground selection in the Antarctic krill fishery: Trends in patterns across years, seasons and nations. CCAMLR Science, 13: 117–141. Krause, D. J., Goebel, M. E., Marshall, G. J., & Abernathy, K. (2015). Novel foraging strategies observed in a growing leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) population at Livingston Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Animal Biotelemetry, 3:24. Krause, D.J., Goebel, M.E., Marshall. G.J. & Abernathy, K. In Press. Summer diving and haul-out behavior of leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx) near mesopredator breeding colonies at Livingston Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Marine Mammal Science.Leppe, M., Fernandoy, F., Palma-Heldt, S. & Moisan, P 2004. Flora mesozoica en los depósitos morrénicos de cabo Shirreff, isla Livingston, Shetland del Sur, Península Antártica, in Actas del 10º Congreso Geológico Chileno.
    [Show full text]
  • Amanda Bay, Ingrid Christensen Coast, Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica
    MEASURE 3 - ANNEX Management Plan for Antarctic Specially Protected Area No 169 AMANDA BAY, INGRID CHRISTENSEN COAST, PRINCESS ELIZABETH LAND, EAST ANTARCTICA Introduction Amanda Bay is located on the Ingrid Christensen Coast of Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica at 69°15' S, 76°49’59.9" E. (Map A). The Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) is designated to protect the breeding colony of several thousand pairs of emperor penguins annually resident in the south-west corner of Amanda Bay, while providing for continued collection of valuable long- term research and monitoring data and comparative studies with colonies elsewhere in East Antarctica. Only two other emperor penguin colonies along the extensive East Antarctic coastline are protected within ASPAs (ASPA 120, Point Géologie Archipelago and ASPA 167 Haswell Island). Amanda Bay is more easily accessed, from vessels or by vehicle from research stations in the Larsemann Hills and Vestfold Hills, than many other emperor penguin colonies in East Antarctica. This accessibility is advantageous for research purposes, but also creates the potential for human disturbance of the birds. The Antarctic coastline in the vicinity of Amanda Bay was first sighted and named the Ingrid Christensen Coast by Captain Mikkelsen in command of the Norwegian ship Thorshavn on 20 February 1935. Oblique aerial photographs of the coastline were taken by the Lars Christensen expedition in 1937 and by the US Operation Highjump in 1947 for reconnaissance purposes. In the 1954/55 summer, the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) on the Kista Dan explored the waters of Prydz Bay, and the first recorded landing in the area was made by a sledging party led by Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Changes in the Contributions of Women to Antarctic National Programmes
    Literature review: „Changes in the contributions of Women in Antarctic National Programmes‟ PCAS 13 (2010/2011) Literature review Changes in the contributions of Women to Antarctic National Programmes PCAS 13 (2010-11) December 2010 Gabriela Roldan Literature review: „Changes in the contributions of Women in Antarctic National Programmes‟ Introduction Antarctica is commonly known as the continent of extremes: the coldest, windiest, highest and driest place on Earth. Its environment is the hardest place on our planet to support life. These superlatives only describe characteristics of its natural environment. However, there is more to the peculiarities of this land: it is the only continent without native inhabitants a or permanent population; and the only place without a cultural background. Because of it, it is the only continent to record the first woman to ever set foot on it. For centuries men imagined the existence of the Terra Incognita. Later, they discovered the continent, explored its coasts, travelled inland and conquered it. The Southern Continent was a place for men only. Nevertheless, women accompanied men in these adventures; whether it was as a companion onboard whaling vessels or in the men‟s hearts and minds. In the mid 1950s, Antarctica was declared as a continent for peace and science purposes only. Governments and scientists turned their attention to this „living laboratory‟ for research. But it was not until the late 1960s that the first women were accepted as part of Antarctic Research Programmes. A practical companion The end of the eighteenth century saw men travelling to the Sub Antarctic Islands and the Southern Ocean in sealing and whaling vessels.
    [Show full text]
  • Antarctica: Music, Sounds and Cultural Connections
    Antarctica Music, sounds and cultural connections Antarctica Music, sounds and cultural connections Edited by Bernadette Hince, Rupert Summerson and Arnan Wiesel Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at http://press.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Title: Antarctica - music, sounds and cultural connections / edited by Bernadette Hince, Rupert Summerson, Arnan Wiesel. ISBN: 9781925022285 (paperback) 9781925022292 (ebook) Subjects: Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911-1914)--Centennial celebrations, etc. Music festivals--Australian Capital Territory--Canberra. Antarctica--Discovery and exploration--Australian--Congresses. Antarctica--Songs and music--Congresses. Other Creators/Contributors: Hince, B. (Bernadette), editor. Summerson, Rupert, editor. Wiesel, Arnan, editor. Australian National University School of Music. Antarctica - music, sounds and cultural connections (2011 : Australian National University). Dewey Number: 780.789471 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design and layout by ANU Press Cover photo: Moonrise over Fram Bank, Antarctica. Photographer: Steve Nicol © Printed by Griffin Press This edition © 2015 ANU Press Contents Preface: Music and Antarctica . ix Arnan Wiesel Introduction: Listening to Antarctica . 1 Tom Griffiths Mawson’s musings and Morse code: Antarctic silence at the end of the ‘Heroic Era’, and how it was lost . 15 Mark Pharaoh Thulia: a Tale of the Antarctic (1843): The earliest Antarctic poem and its musical setting . 23 Elizabeth Truswell Nankyoku no kyoku: The cultural life of the Shirase Antarctic Expedition 1910–12 .
    [Show full text]
  • Federal Register/Vol. 84, No. 78/Tuesday, April 23, 2019/Rules
    Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 78 / Tuesday, April 23, 2019 / Rules and Regulations 16791 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., nor does it require Agricultural commodities, Pesticides SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The any special considerations under and pests, Reporting and recordkeeping Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978, as Executive Order 12898, entitled requirements. amended (‘‘ACA’’) (16 U.S.C. 2401, et ‘‘Federal Actions to Address Dated: April 12, 2019. seq.) implements the Protocol on Environmental Justice in Minority Environmental Protection to the Richard P. Keigwin, Jr., Populations and Low-Income Antarctic Treaty (‘‘the Protocol’’). Populations’’ (59 FR 7629, February 16, Director, Office of Pesticide Programs. Annex V contains provisions for the 1994). Therefore, 40 CFR chapter I is protection of specially designated areas Since tolerances and exemptions that amended as follows: specially managed areas and historic are established on the basis of a petition sites and monuments. Section 2405 of under FFDCA section 408(d), such as PART 180—[AMENDED] title 16 of the ACA directs the Director the tolerance exemption in this action, of the National Science Foundation to ■ do not require the issuance of a 1. The authority citation for part 180 issue such regulations as are necessary proposed rule, the requirements of the continues to read as follows: and appropriate to implement Annex V Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 Authority: 21 U.S.C. 321(q), 346a and 371. to the Protocol. et seq.) do not apply. ■ 2. Add § 180.1365 to subpart D to read The Antarctic Treaty Parties, which This action directly regulates growers, as follows: includes the United States, periodically food processors, food handlers, and food adopt measures to establish, consolidate retailers, not States or tribes.
    [Show full text]
  • Gender in Polar Research – Gendered Field Work Conditions, Epistemologies and Legacies
    IASSA - WORKING GROUP GENDER I N THE ARCTIC IASC & IASSA ONLINE Workshop Gender in Polar Research – Gendered field work conditions, epistemologies and legacies Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) 2020 30 March 2020, Via ZOOM GMT Time zone This online workshop is a thematic teaser for the in‐situ workshop “Gender in Polar Research” during ASSW 2021 in Lisbon. For online access to ZOOM go to https://eu01web.zoom.us/j/821469637 17:00h Opening Gertrude Saxinger, Stephan Dudeck, J. Otto Habeck Finding Marguerite and Tookoolito: “Mapping Women of the Arctic” Short introduction and invitation to the project Carol Devine, Gosia Smieszek 1ST PART Heroic images in Polar explorations: gendered legacies for contemporary research 17:15h Short inputs of 6 minutes each CHAIR: J. Otto Habeck The distorted mirror – ethnographic forms of representation of non‐heteronormative existences in the North Stephan Dudeck Working women in high latitudes: unproblematic house‐keepers, troublesome scientists Petia Mankova and Elena Liarskaya From gender and access to decision making on natural resource management in the Arctic to young women’s empowerment in industrial cities in the Russian Arctic Anna Karlsdottir Gendered challenges for driving trucks in the arctic: contesting masculine spaces Roger Andre Søraa Polar exploration, heroic images, and the colonial gaze – interactive format Dina Abdel Fattah How to reclaim the Heroic Era of Polar Exploration: a case study Laura Farrely The limits of "leaning in": gendered dynamics of ethnographic fieldwork in a subarctic
    [Show full text]
  • A NTARCTIC Southpole-Sium
    N ORWAY A N D THE A N TARCTIC SouthPole-sium v.3 Oslo, Norway • 12-14 May 2017 Compiled and produced by Robert B. Stephenson. E & TP-32 2 Norway and the Antarctic 3 This edition of 100 copies was issued by The Erebus & Terror Press, Jaffrey, New Hampshire, for those attending the SouthPole-sium v.3 Oslo, Norway 12-14 May 2017. Printed at Savron Graphics Jaffrey, New Hampshire May 2017 ❦ 4 Norway and the Antarctic A Timeline to 2006 • Late 18th Vessels from several nations explore around the unknown century continent in the south, and seal hunting began on the islands around the Antarctic. • 1820 Probably the first sighting of land in Antarctica. The British Williams exploration party led by Captain William Smith discovered the northwest coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The Russian Vostok and Mirnyy expedition led by Thaddeus Thadevich Bellingshausen sighted parts of the continental coast (Dronning Maud Land) without recognizing what they had seen. They discovered Peter I Island in January of 1821. • 1841 James Clark Ross sailed with the Erebus and the Terror through the ice in the Ross Sea, and mapped 900 kilometres of the coast. He discovered Ross Island and Mount Erebus. • 1892-93 Financed by Chr. Christensen from Sandefjord, C. A. Larsen sailed the Jason in search of new whaling grounds. The first fossils in Antarctica were discovered on Seymour Island, and the eastern part of the Antarctic Peninsula was explored to 68° 10’ S. Large stocks of whale were reported in the Antarctic and near South Georgia, and this discovery paved the way for the large-scale whaling industry and activity in the south.
    [Show full text]
  • Science Studies Probing the Dynamics of Scientific Knowledge
    Sabine Maasen / Matthias Winterhager (eds.) Science Studies Probing the Dynamics of Scientific Knowledge 09.05.01 --- Projekt: transcript.maasen.winterhager / Dokument: FAX ID 012a286938514334|(S. 1 ) T00_01 schmutztitel.p 286938514390 09.05.01 --- Projekt: transcript.maasen.winterhager / Dokument: FAX ID 012a286938514334|(S. 2 ) vakat 002.p 286938514406 Sabine Maasen / Matthias Winterhager (eds.) Science Studies Probing the Dynamics of Scientific Knowledge 09.05.01 --- Projekt: transcript.maasen.winterhager / Dokument: FAX ID 012a286938514334|(S. 3 ) T00_03 innentitel.p 286938514414 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License. Die Deutsche Bibliothek – CIP-Einheitsaufnahme Science studies : probing the dynamics of scientific knowledge / Sabine Maasen / Matthias Winterhager (ed.). – Bielefeld : transcript, 2001 ISBN 3-933127-64-5 © 2001 transcript Verlag, Bielefeld Umschlaggestaltung: Kordula Röckenhaus, Bielefeld Satz: digitron GmbH, Bielefeld Druck: Digital Print, Witten ISBN 3-933127-64-5 09.05.01 --- Projekt: transcript.maasen.winterhager / Dokument: FAX ID 012a286938514334|(S. 4 ) T00_04 impressum.p 286938514422 To Peter Weingart and, of course, Henry Holorenshaw 09.05.01 --- Projekt: transcript.maasen.winterhager / Dokument: FAX ID 012a286938514334|(S. 5 ) T00_05 widmung.p 286938514430 09.05.01 --- Projekt: transcript.maasen.winterhager / Dokument: FAX ID 012a286938514334|(S. 6 ) vakat 006.p 286938514438 Contents Introduction 9 Science Studies. Probing the Dynamics of Scientific Knowledge Sabine Maasen and Matthias Winterhager 9 Eugenics – Looking at the Role of Science Anew 55 A Statistical Viewpoint on the Testing of Historical Hypotheses: The Case of Eugenics Diane B. Paul 57 Humanities – Inquiry Into the Growing Demand for Histories 71 Making Sense Wolfgang Prinz 73 Bibliometrics – Monitoring Emerging Fields 85 A Bibliometric Methodology for Exploring Interdisciplinary, ‘Unorthodox’ Fields of Science.
    [Show full text]
  • Management Plan for Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 167
    Management Plan for Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 167 Hawker Island, Princess Elizabeth Land Introduction -west from Davis station off the Vestfold Hills on the Ingrid Christensen Coast, Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica. The island was designated as Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) No. 167 under Measure 1 (2006), following a proposal by Australia, primarily to protect the southernmost breeding colony of southern giant petrels (Macronectes giganteus) (Map B). The Area is one of only four known breeding locations for southern giant petrels on the coast of East Antarctica, all of which have been designated as ASPAs: ASPA 102, Rookery Islands, Holme Bay, Mac.Robertson Land near Mawson Station; ASPA 160, Frazier Islands, Wilkes , Hawker Island also supports breeding colonies of Adélie penguins (Pygocelis adeliae), south polar skuas (Catharacta maccormicki), Cape petrels (Daption capense) and occasionally Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii). 1. Description of values to be protected The total population of southern giant petrels in East Antarctica represents less than 1% of the global breeding population. It is currently estimated at approximately 300 pairs, comprising approximately 45 pairs on Hawker Island (2010), 2-4 pairs on Giganteus Island (Rookery Islands group) (2007), approximately 250 pairs on the Frazier Islands (2001) and 8-9 pairs at Pointe Géologie (2005). Southern giant petrels also breed on other islands in the southern Indian and Atlantic Oceans and at the Antarctic Peninsula. The southern giant petrel colony at Hawker Island was discovered in December 1963; at that time there were 40- but it is unclear how many nests were occupied. Between 1963 and 2007, intermittent counts of adults, eggs or chicks were undertaken at various stages of the breeding cycle.
    [Show full text]
  • Australian Antarctic Treaty and Environmental Protocol Inspections January 2010
    IP 39 Agenda Item: ATCM 11, CEP 10 Presented by: Australia Original: English Australian Antarctic Treaty and Environmental Protocol inspections January 2010 Attachments: Report of Australian inspections 2010.pdf 1 Antarctic Treaty – Australian Inspection Team 2010 AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC TREATY INSPECTIONS January 2010 Syowa Station (Japan) Molodezhnaya, Druzhnaya IV and Soyuz Stations (Russian Federation) Mount Harding Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) 168 Report of an Inspection under Article VII of the Antarctic Treaty and Article 14 of the Protocol on Environment Protection May 2011 REPORT OF AN INSPECTION UNDER ARTICLE VII OF THE ANTARCTIC TREATY AND ARTICLE 14 OF THE PROTOCOL ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 1. Introduction 2. Overview 2.1 Conduct of the inspections 3. Acknowledgments 4. Molodezhnaya station (Russian Federation) 4.1 General information 4.2 Observations 4.3 Other comments 5. Syowa Station (Japan) 5.1 General information 5.2 Observations 5.3 Other comments 6. Druzhnaya IV Station (Russian Federation) 6.1 General information 6.2 Observations 6.3 Other comments 7. Soyuz Station (Russian Federation) 7.1 General information 7.2 Observations 7.3 Other comments 8. Mount Harding ASPA 168 9. Photographs 9.1 Molodezhnaya Station 9.2 Syowa Station 9.3 Druzhnaya IV Station 9.4 Soyuz Station 9.5 Mount Harding ASPA 168 1. INTRODUCTION Article VII of the Antarctic Treaty provides that each Consultative Party has the right to designate observers to undertake inspections in Antarctica. Observers have complete freedom of access at any time to any and all areas in Antarctica. Parties are obliged to have all areas of Antarctica, including stations, installations and equipment, open at all times to inspection by designated observers.
    [Show full text]
  • Women on the Ice Review
    Women on the Ice … A review of literature relating to a female presence in Antarctica Hanne Nielsen ANTA 602 PCAS 14 2011/12 Hanne Nielsen Women on The Ice 1 Women on the Ice … A review of literature relating to a female presence in Antarctica Introduction 3 Early Days: 4 Antarctica: The Last Frontier 4 The ʻOld Boysʼ Clubʼ 6 Female ʻFirstʼs: 6 Mikkelsen, Ronne, Hammond and Beyond 7 Invisible Milestones 8 Women in the lead 8 A Frosty Reception: 9 ʻFacilitiesʼ Façade 9 ʻOne of the Boysʼ 10 Public Perception 11 Carving Careers 12 Future Horizons: 2009 Onwards 13 Bibliography 15 Hanne Nielsen Women on The Ice 2 Introduction This literature review on ʻWomen on the Ice' examines texts that deal with women's role in Antarctica. These texts track how the continent changed from being solely a male landscape during the age of discovery to accommodating a female presence, with many including timelines highlighting various milestones for women. There are two distinct waves of literature on the topic of the female presence in Antarctica. Although Barbara Landʼs ʻThe New Explorers: Women in Antarcticaʼ and Elizabeth Chipmanʼs canonical ʻWomen on the ice: A history of women in the far southʼ were published in the 1980s, the issue of Antarctica lagged behind other feminist issues and was not picked up widely until the following decade. The first group of texts from 1994 are mainly linked to a 1993 conference held in Australia entitled ʻLiving in Antarctica: Women in A Manʼs World?ʼ later published under the title ʻGender on Iceʼ.
    [Show full text]
  • The 2008 Icelandic Bank Collapse: Foreign Factors
    The 2008 Icelandic Bank Collapse: Foreign Factors A Report for the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs Centre for Political and Economic Research at the Social Science Research Institute University of Iceland Reykjavik 19 September 2018 1 Summary 1. An international financial crisis started in August 2007, greatly intensifying in 2008. 2. In early 2008, European central banks apparently reached a quiet consensus that the Icelandic banking sector was too big, that it threatened financial stability with its aggressive deposit collection and that it should not be rescued. An additional reason the Bank of England rejected a currency swap deal with the CBI was that it did not want a financial centre in Iceland. 3. While the US had protected and assisted Iceland in the Cold War, now she was no longer considered strategically important. In September, the US Fed refused a dollar swap deal to the CBI similar to what it had made with the three Scandinavian central banks. 4. Despite repeated warnings from the CBI, little was done to prepare for the possible failure of the banks, both because many hoped for the best and because public opinion in Iceland was strongly in favour of the banks and of businessmen controlling them. 5. Hedge funds were active in betting against the krona and the banks and probably also in spreading rumours about Iceland’s vulnerability. In late September 2008, when Glitnir Bank was in trouble, the government decided to inject capital into it. But Glitnir’s major shareholder, a media magnate, started a campaign against this trust-building measure, and a bank run started.
    [Show full text]